Pentagon praises Israeli arms controls

September 6, 2007 9:00am

The United States commended Israel for improving its weapons export regulations.

Pentagon official Beth McCormick said Wednesday that Israeli defense officials, after suffering several spats with U.S. counterparts over attempted arms deals with China in recent years, have satisfactorily tightened up export policies.

“I must say that I can’t be any prouder of the work that the Israelis have done,” McCormick said at a Washington conference.

Washington argued that some Israeli arms sales to China could endanger Taiwan, a U.S. ally. But in Israel there was criticism of a perceived U.S. push to quash lucrative deals that could challenge American arms firms.

McCormick said she was “very sympathetic” to the fact that Israel’s military industries need to sell as much as 75 percent of their products abroad to stay solvent.